London


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-lowdown">THE LOWDOWN</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/Tower1-1024x683.jpg" alt="Tower of London After Hours Tour The Tour Guy" class="wp-image-9722" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/Tower1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/Tower1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/Tower1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/Tower1.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<p>Chances are you haven&#8217;t been to the Tower of London for a while (Muddy&#8217;s last visit was a school trip and we&#8217;re not revealing when that was&#8230;), however there&#8217;s an exciting new experience at the world&#8217;s most famous fortress which will make you see it in a whole new light, or rather darkness. </p>



<p>Imagine being in the Tower sans crowds, after hours. Muddy was invited to do just that for the launch of The Tour Guy&#8217;s brand new <a href="https://thetourguy.com/tours/london/tower-of-london-after-hours-tour?sscid=41k9_993xr&amp;" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tower of London After Dark</a> experience and it was spookier than expected. The exclusive 90-minute guided tour, which is led by a bona fide Yeoman Warder (one of the 35 beefeaters that live in the Tower), even includes front row seats to the Ceremony of the Keys, a mysterious nightly ritual that&#8217;s been happening for SEVEN HUNDRED YEARS. This tour&#8217;s a major sightseeing flex whether you&#8217;re a Londoner or tourist, no question. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/TowerEmpty-1024x683.jpg" alt="Tower of London After Hours Tour The Tour Guy" class="wp-image-9723" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/TowerEmpty-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/TowerEmpty-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/TowerEmpty-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/TowerEmpty.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-vibe">THE VIBE</h2>



<p>The Tower is a hair-raising place to be at any time, but empty of visitors and under cover of darkness? Spine-chilling. Incredibly, it&#8217;s almost 1,000 years old, and nowadays, the surrounds look rather different to how they did in 1066 – the illuminated, looming figure of Tower Bridge and the twinkling tip of the Shard feel like sci-fi from inside the citadel. What would old Guillaume le Conquérant have made of that?</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/ShardTower-1024x683.jpg" alt="Tower of London After Hours Tour The Tour Guy" class="wp-image-9727" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/ShardTower-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/ShardTower-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/ShardTower-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/ShardTower.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<p>Of course, there&#8217;s nothing like a bit of exclusivity, and it feels pretty cool to have free run of one of the world&#8217;s busiest attractions. By 8:30pm when the tour starts, it&#8217;s just you, the 35 resident Yeoman Warders, and any on-duty military in the Tower, and it&#8217;s SO much better that way. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-experience">THE EXPERIENCE</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/TowerTam-1024x683.jpg" alt="Tower of London After Hours Tour The Tour Guy" class="wp-image-9724" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/TowerTam-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/TowerTam-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/TowerTam-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/TowerTam.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Tam, our Yeoman Warder tour guide</figcaption></figure>



<p>The tour starts on the bridge across the former moat, where you&#8217;ll meet your Yeoman Warder and get the lowdown on what you&#8217;re about to see. Ours, Tam, spent 35 years in the RAF Regiment, but you might have guessed he&#8217;d been a panto dame all that time instead. He bellowed and pranced and flailed his arms as the fabulous tales of the Tower came to life, and we hung on his every word. If he&#8217;d wanted an &#8216;it&#8217;s behind you!&#8217;, he&#8217;d have had it in an instant.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/WhiteTower-1024x683.jpg" alt="The White Tower Tower of London After Hours Tour The Tour Guy" class="wp-image-9725" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/WhiteTower-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/WhiteTower-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/WhiteTower-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/WhiteTower.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The White Tower</figcaption></figure>



<p>And some tales they are. The Tower has worn many hats over the last millennium, but it is surely most renowned for being one of the most infamous prisons in history &#8211; and Tam didn&#8217;t waste time in getting into the stomach-turning details. Remember the story of the drunk executioner who took five attempts to lop off the the Duke of Monmouth&#8217;s head, and had to finish it off with a kitchen knife? Gahh.</p>



<p>As we passed the Bell Tower, he pointed up to the cell where Thomas More was held for over a year after refusing to sign Henry VIII&#8217;s Act of Supremacy, before leading on to Traitor&#8217;s Gate and the notorious Bloody Tower. Tam spared no drama in his retelling of British history&#8217;s greatest whodunnit, and we were all whisked back to our secondary school history classes.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/TowerBridge-1024x683.jpg" alt="The White Tower Tower Bridge Tower of London After Hours Tour The Tour Guy" class="wp-image-9726" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/TowerBridge-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/TowerBridge-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/TowerBridge-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/TowerBridge.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<p>We continued round to the stunning White Tower, and after some more &#8220;you just couldn&#8217;t write it&#8221; moments from Tam, it was almost time for the ceremonial locking of the gates.</p>



<p>The traditional processing the &#8216;King&#8217;s Keys&#8217; up to the tower gates and back has been conducted in or around its current form for 700 years. There&#8217;s no filming allowed, so the ceremony&#8217;s content has been perpetually shrouded in mystery, but no one does pomp like the Brits and this one does not disappoint. No spoilers, but trust me, it&#8217;s worth a squizz.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-out-amp-about">OUT &amp; ABOUT</h2>



<p>There&#8217;s no shortage of fancy restaurants and bars near the Tower to make a night of it. Have a bite beforehand at <a href="https://boroughmarket.org.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Borough Market</a> (Muddy&#8217;s pick of the bunch in there is <a href="https://www.oma.london/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Oma</a>), have dinner at a choice of eateries in Hays Galleria (<a href="https://www.cote.co.uk/restaurant/hays-galleria" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Côte</a> or <a href="https://restaurantkod.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">KöD</a> for a steak, <a href="https://cafepiazza.london/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cafe Piazza</a> for a buzzy bite) or have a drink in the shadow of HMS Belfast at the <a href="https://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/restaurants/london/thehornimanathayslondonbridge">Horniman at Hays</a>.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/skygarden-1024x683.jpg" alt="The Sky Garden" class="wp-image-9728" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/skygarden-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/skygarden-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/skygarden-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/03/skygarden.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Instagram @sg_skygarden</figcaption></figure>



<p>For a drink overlooking the Tower afterwards, the bar at the citizenM hotel is unmatched, or cruise up to the <a href="https://skygarden.london/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sky Garden</a> by Monument tube for a similarly breath-taking, top-floor tipple.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-muddy-verdict">THE MUDDY VERDICT</h2>



<p><strong>Good for:</strong> Londoners and visitors alike &#8211; anyone with a nose for a good story, a lively imagination and a penchant for exclusivity. Few eyes have seen the Tower as you do on this tour, and there&#8217;s some pretty big names on that list.</p>



<p><strong>Not for:</strong> You don&#8217;t actually go inside the Tower, so if that&#8217;s an issue, it may be worth sticking with the daytime visit. Make sure you bring an extra layer, and be aware that you&#8217;ll be standing and walking for two hours straight.</p>



<p><strong>The damage:</strong> For a product this exclusive and premium, there&#8217;s a price to match: £110 per person. <a href="https://thetourguy.com/tours/london/tower-of-london-after-hours-tour?sscid=41k9_993xr&amp;" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Book here</a>. </p>


Review: Tower of London After Dark, The Tour Guy

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